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Elevate cholesterol has almost nothing to do with heart attack risk notes Prof. Timothy Noakes

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 9:32 am Email this article

“There is so much evidence to show that it is not cholesterol [that increases heart attack risk],” notes Prof. Timothy Noakes, MD, DSc, PhD in an interview that he did on a Fat & Furious podcast.

“Cholesterol is a terribly poor predictor of heart attack risk.”

“It is so pathetic…”

“In the series that I have written on insulin resistance, I look at the MRFIT data for cholesterol,” Noakes continues.

“For people with cholesterol levels of 2-8 (mmol/liter) [roughly 80-320 mg/dL], the change in [heart attack] risk [for those with the highest levels versus those with the lowest levels] is almost insignificant.”

“In people with the highest cholesterol levels, there is about a 1% increased risk [of dying from a heart attack] per annum [compared to those with the lowest cholesterol levels].

“So in 99% of people [with the highest cholesterol levels,] it [cholesterol] was of no value in predicting their heart attack risk.”

“[But] if you look at the insulin resistance, it’s all in there.”

[Noakes notes that in the MRFIT data, they combined data in order to hide the truth. I think what he is talking about here is that people with the lowest cholesterol levels (or lowest LDL levels) were at an increased risk of death, which is the data that they were trying to hide.]

[Noakes 11-part series titled “It’s the Insulin Resistance, Stupid!” can be found here.]